One man and three women:  it was an arrangement of dancers and dynamics that choreographer George Balanchine used often throughout his career.  This concept led him to place his danseur noble among three equally compelling women, rather than opposite one or torn between two.

Premiered in 1953, this choreography to Glinka's Valse Fantaisie in B minor displays Balanchine's attention to detail and the nuances of accent and phrasing within the parameters of the waltz rhythm of the score.

The classically beautiful and original images that Balanchine created in Valse Fantaisie 1953 gave further life to a lesson that he had learned while creating the ballet Apollo:  he could "leave things out" - and less, indeed, could be more.

(A passing note, Balanchine would return to this score later, with his Valse Fantaisie 1967.)